An increase of violence occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict starting in the autumn of 2015 and lasting into the first half of 2016. It was called the "Intifada of the Individuals" by Israeli sources, the Knife Intifada, Stabbing Intifada or Jerusalem Intifada by international sources because of the many stabbings in Jerusalem, or Habba by Palestinian sources. 38 Israelis and 235 Palestinians were killed in the violence. 558 Israelis and thousands of Palestinians were injured.
In the latter half of 2015, there were on average three Palestinian attacks per day. It decreased to one per day in 2016 but continued at that level for months. Between October 2015 and March 2016 there were 211 stabbings or attempted stabbings of Israelis by Palestinians, 83 shootings and 42 car-ramming attacks killing 30 Israelis and two Americans. Over 200 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, 130 of them while allegedly carrying out attacks on Israelis.
The Palestinian violence during this period was characterized by its uncoordinated nature; most attacks were opportunistic "lone wolf" assaults on Israelis, carried out by individuals acting alone and not attributable to any political faction. That Israeli security forces frequently killed attackers was condemned by human rights organizations and others who claimed that it often amounted to summary executions. Others insisted that Israel had the right to defend itself.
Several events have been attributed as the starting point of the renewed hostilities. On 9 September, Israel outlawed Palestinian groups engaged in aggressive protests against Jewish groups visiting the Temple Mount. On 13 September, Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli police at al-Aqsa. Daily clashes, encouraged by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, continued for several days. On 22 September, Hadeel al-Hishlamoun was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, allegedly while trying to stab them. Tensions escalated further on 1 October 2015 when an Israeli couple were killed by Palestinian militants, followed by the 3 October Lions' Gate stabbings and the 7 October stabbing of Daniel Rosenfeld by Shorouq Dwayyat.
Different explanations have been given for the Palestinian unrest. These include Israel appearing to seek to change the "status quo" surrounding the Temple Mount, social-media campaigns that may have motivated the attackers, frustration over the failure of peace talks and the suppression of human rights,Greg Botelho, Ed Payne, 'New security measures considered amid continuing violence in Israel,' CNN News:'Whatever the label, some Palestinians insist they are fed up with the status quo. "We've tried negotiations and it didn't work," a Palestinian youth in the West Bank city of Hebron told CNN as thick smoke rose from flaming tires. "So now we will fight.".''Young Palestinians sound off on current unrest, Israeli occupation,' Al Jazeera 14 October 2015 and incitement.
Possible causes for the wave of violence
According to many analysts, the key issue was access to what is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount. A "status quo" have been in place since 1967 which safeguards Muslim access to the site and prevents Jewish groups from performing religious rituals there.
Late in the summer of 2015, suspicion spread among Palestinians that Israel was attempting to change the status quo of the Mount by imposing age and gender restrictions on Muslim access while allowing entry to larger groups of Jewish activists. The suspicions were strengthened by calls from Jewish religious activists to visit the Mount on 13 September, eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Visitors on that date included Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel, who was filmed praying at the site in front of his police escorts, openly flaunting the prohibition against Jewish prayers.
On 9 September 2015, Israel outlawed two Palestinian groups, "Mourabitoon" and "Murabitat", involved in aggressive protests at the Temple Mount against Jewish visiting groups. Israeli police enforce exclusively Muslim prayer at the site and visits to the site by Jewish campaigners have led to clashes with Mourabitoon and Mourabitaat activists. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who signed the ban, said in a statement that the Mourabitoon and Mourabitaat are a "main cause in the creation of tension and violence on the Temple Mount (al Aqsa compound) specifically and Jerusalem in general". The Palestinian Authority opposed this ban and supported the activists.
Israeli generals have claimed that, to a notable degree, Palestinian violence was driven by anger at and revenge for Israeli actions, and that frustrations over the stagnation of diplomatic initiatives also contributed. A report by Israeli intelligence services stated that the unrest was motivated by Palestinian "feelings of national, economic and personal deprivation."Gili Cohen, 'Shin Bet: Feelings of Discrimination Driving Palestinian Youth Toward Terror ,' Haaretz 11 November 2015.
Some also pointed out the increasing incitement and involvement of the Islamic State group in regard to Palestinian youth, with Islamic State cell members arrested in the West Bank in January 2015.
Palestinian attacks During the events, Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem carried out assaults against Israeli soldiers, policement as well as against civilians. Most of the attacks were carried out by unaffiliated assailants and have been described by Israeli and sometimes by other sources as acts of terrorism.
The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has published a breakdown of the attacks on 24 May 2016, about 8 months from the start of the events. Out of 215 attacks recorded between 13 September 2015 and 24 May 2016, the most prominent type was stabbing attacks with a total of 149 incidents (69%). Stabbing attacks have been the most frequent type of assault in 2013 and 2014, but during the events of 2015–2016, they increased. The stabbings were followed by vehicular attacks with 29 incidents (14%), shooting attacks with 21 incidents (10%) and other attacks including the use of Improvised explosive devices and combined assaults.
Over half of the attacks (134) occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. About a quarter (58) took place in the city of Jerusalem (including East Jerusalem) and the rest (23) occurred within the recognized boundaries of Israel, which saw an increase in the number of attacks since the preceding years.
Impact on Israeli society The near daily attacks affected Jewish Israeli society and Jewish Israeli opinions toward the Palestinians in various ways. A poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute in October 2015 found that 53 percent of Jewish Israeli respondents believed that a Palestinian suspect of a "terrorist attack should be killed on the spot, even if he has been apprehended and no longer poses a threat" and 80 percent said that the home of the family of a Palestinian who has murdered Jews on a nationalist background should be demolished." In the same report 57 percent reported that they feared either for themselves or for someone they knew and only 23 percent believed that Palestinian despair over the lack of progress in peace talks was behind the spike in attacks. A poll in December 2015 found that 77 percent of Israelis felt unsafe and that nearly half were reluctant to attend public Hanukkah celebrations.
After an attack in a supermarket, one of Israel's major grocery chains, Rami Levy pulled all knives, kitchen scissors and pizza cutters from the aisles so that they would not be used as weapons by Palestinian attackers.
In October in the weekly magazine Mishpacha, popular among ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews, a letter that went viral appeared to beg Arabs not to kill Haredim appeared. The letter, written in Arabic, began "We, the Hareidim do not go up to the Temple Mount, you do not see Hareidim on the Temple Mount, Hareidim do not want to change the status quo, and the Hareidim have no part in this – so please, stop murdering us." Many Haredi Jews had been targeted in the Old City of Jerusalem, ostensibly because of their distinguishable clothing. According to Mishpacha's editor, Yossi Elituv the appeal was meant as a literary device and was misunderstood.
During the unrest, demand for handguns soared and Israeli leaders encouraged licensed gun owners to carry their weapons. The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat in October 2015 compared it to "military reserve duty" and claimed that bystanders shooting Palestinian attackers had prevented many attacks. Netanyahu, echoing his comments, said that "Civilians are at the forefront of the war against terrorism and must also be on maximum alert."
Impact on Palestinian society Initially, Palestinians were broadly supportive of attacks against Israelis but the support waned over time. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian think tank Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) among Palestinians released in December 2015 showed that 57 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank supported knife attacks. That number had shrunk to 44 percent in March 2016. However, a majority still believed that an armed intifada would serve them better than negotiations.
The same opinion polls showed that the unrest didn't affect public opinion about Abbas and the Palestinian Authority – they remained widely unpopular. In the fall of 2015 over half of the respondents of PCPSR:s poll favored dissolving the PA altogether and two years later in poll conducted among West Bank Palestinians, 46 percent viewed the PA as a "burden" and 60 percent wished Abbas would resign.
Extrajudicial killings Human rights organizations, such as B'Tselem and Amnesty International, and Palestinian leaders, and others said that some killings of Palestinian attackers and others by Israeli security forces were extrajudicial killings.
In a joint statement with the Israeli NGO B'tselem, Amnesty International stated that in some instances Israeli forces have engaged in extrajudicial killings, which Israeli politicians are accused of openly endorsing as a response to Palestinians merely suspected by police of terrorist intentions of unarmed civilians. Netanyahu made a point of saying when the US killed the San Bernardino shooters, nobody said they were extrajudicial killings and claimed that Israel was unfairly criticized. Human Rights Watch, raising the possibility that Israel may be engaged in violations of international law, has expressed concern over what it calls Israel's "indiscriminate and even deliberate" shooting of protesters.
On 27 October 2015, Amnesty called for Israel to end its "pattern of unlawful killings." The organization examined four cases, 19-year-old Sa'ad Muhammad Youssef al-Atrash, 17-year-old Dania Jihad Hussein Ershied, 19-year-old Fadi Alloun, and 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon, which it claimed were deliberately shot while they posed no imminent threat to life and that the killings therefore were extrajudicial. It also noted some cases in which the person shot were not given medical assistance and was left bleeding to death on the ground. Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, stated:
"There is mounting evidence that, as tensions have risen dramatically, in some cases Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures. They seem increasingly prone to using lethal force against anyone they perceive as posing a threat, without ensuring that the threat is real."